Sunday, July 27, 2008

This is one of the numerous posts that has been languishing in my drafts folder for months now. Blogging is beginning to seem like "work" these days!

Panna cotta is an Italian dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set. An Italian phrase which literally means "cooked cream", it generally refers to a creamy, set dessert from the Northern Italian region of Piedmont. It is eaten all over Italy where it is served with wild berries, caramel or chocolate sauce. (Source: Wikipedia)Recipe source: Williams-Sonoma

For the chocolate panna cotta:Ingredients:1 ¾ cups heavy cream1 packet/envelope plain gelatin( Strict vegetarians, please use whatever substitutes you have available.)2 Tbsp Mascarpone cheese3 Tbsp sugarA pinch of salt2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, choppedFresh strawberry sauce, recipe followsMethod:Coat four small ramekins or custard cups lightly with flavorless oil. I used small steel tumblers.Pour about ¼ cup of the cream into a small microwave safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over it and let stand until softened, about 5 minutes. Microwave for a minute or so and mix well until the gelatin has dissolved.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan over medium heat, bring the remaining cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar and salt just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Add the gelatin mixture to the chocolate mixture and mix well. Divide the mixture evenly among the ramekins and let cool to room temperature.

Cover the panna cotta loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate until set and thoroughly chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 1 day.

To serve, dip the ramekins one at a time into a bowl of hot water for about 20-30 seconds to loosen the custard, and then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a chilled serving plate. Serve the panna cotta with the strawberry sauce spooned over the top. Garnish with toasted walnuts. Serves 4.

As everything else on your blog, this looks really delicious. Oh, no! Blogging is supposed to be fun. It's NOT supposed to feel like work. LOL! Perhaps a short break is in order? Take it easy and have fun.

Yayy! The timing is just perfect for your recipe TBC, because I finally found some agar-agar flakes y'day at Whole foods and I might have exactly 2 spns of mascarpone leftover from my Tiramisu. Will let you know how it turns out :)

We'd like to invite you to participate in our July berry recipe contest. All competitors will be placed on our blogroll, and the winner will receive a fun prize! Please email me, haleyglasco@gmail.com, if you're interested. Feel free to check out our blog for more details: http://blog.keyingredient.com/2008/06/06/key-ingredient-cooks-kitchen-recipe-contest/

Mallika, Red Chillies, Sig, Roma, Nags, Ranjani, Easycrafts, Shreya,Homecooked, Vegetable Platter and Rashmi- thank you so much for taking the time to stop by and leave your comments. I appreciate each and every one of them! :D

Laavanya- I should try the pain one now.:D And thanks!

Paz- you are too kind.:D I am indeed going on a short break. Just wanted to post all the pending posts before that.

Rajitha- glad I could impress ya! ;-) We're supposed to be strict vegetarians too, but I like my gelatin? ;D

Pooja- I like your profile pic a lot! Good to see you here.:D

Siri- thank you!:D How's the new job?

Sra- On the contrary, I'm kind of losing interest just a little bit mainly due to the posts in drafts that just keep piling up! :-(

Lore- yay indeed! I too love the combination, but then I like anything chocolate.:D

SMN- hope it turns out well and you like it.:D

Priya- give me some feedback, preferably good, o.k? ;-)

Sia- :D The problem for me right now is the large number of pending posts which I would like to publish before I take a short break.

Bhawana- thank you for the sweet words.:D

JZ- awww, what a nice thing to say!I still enjoy blogging and hope it stays that way for a long time.:DI'm not going anywhere... just a tiny break for a bit .:)

Enjay- thank you.:D

Richa- oh but that's exactly what I do! I meant "work" only 'cos I have so many pending posts and pics that are yet to see the light of day. It's becoming kind of unmanageable now. I just want to publish all that before I go on my vacation.:D

So what did u finally make for your picnic?

Haley thanks! I'll head over and check it out.:D

Sunshinemom- thank you! :D

Poonam! you know that I was at your blog earlier today, right? ;-)You've been busy! It's nice to see you here.:D

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The recipes you see here are ones that have worked for me in my kitchen and have been tailored to suit my palate. There is no guarantee that it would do the same for you. Please use my recipes merely as guidelines and feel free to adapt it to cater to your needs.